Imo000

Has anyone here removed the crank position sensor on their 3.4L 996 or other M96 Boxter engines? What was the trick to get a stuck one out?

Gregster

Lots of penetration oil and various flat screw drivers with a heat gun. Mini Vice grips help too. If you are planning on saving the old sensor it's unlikely. In extreme cases it's sometimes faster to remove the gearbox(on 996) if you have a lift.

JTT

I’ve got to do mine at some point too. Have the sensor sitting on the bench. The only one I’ve taken out was from a blown up engine sitting on the bench, with transmission off...and it took remarkable force to remove. Scared me off trying mine.

Greg, seeing it is plastic, and won’t likely be reusable, have you ever tried taking a torch to it to melt the plastic? (I know, hack tech, but...)

Gregster

That would work too. I use a heat gun on high with mini vice grips to get moving. Then that with a combo of screw drivers to pry it out.

Imo000

Thanks for the info. I will try this. I should have pulled and replaced it when I had the engine completely apart. There is a break inside the wire and only works if I hold the sensor wire by hand in a certain way. This was enough to test start the engine after the reassembly but I can't trust it on the long run.

Imo000

It came out. Thanks!
Anyone that has a '99 or near that age should really consider changing this before they fail. The outside silicone insulation that encapsulates the 3 wires looks perfectly normal but when I peeled it back, the insulation in the individual wires was crumbling. All this makes it worse that the 3rd wire has no insulation (probably to save a few pennies) so if any of the other two sire insulation cracks enough to make contact with that bare wire, the sensor will loose the signal and the engine will die.

JTT

IMO, so you used the heat gun approach? Wiggle, twist, wiggle, then pry?

Imo000

No heat gun just used my fingers by twisting the sensor back and froth while pulling on it. It came 3/4 of the way out and then used a small prybar to gently help it to come for the rest of the way.

Cityfisher

what symptoms did you experience?

Imo000

Engine didn't want to start after it was reinstalled in the car (I took the engine apart to replace the connecting rod and main bearings). The fuel injectors were not getting the pulse to open but there was spark and the engine would fire up on starter fluid. Once I moved the crank sensor wire by hand a bit while the starter was spinning the engine, the engine would fire up and run until I let go of the sensor wire.

JTT

Imo, by chance did you change cam position sensors? I’m just wondering if they are a bear to get out too.

Imo000

No, I left them alone.

just an update on this. DHL screwed up my crank position sensor package and instead to bringing it to me,they send sent it back to the vendor so I re ordered it and waiting for it to arrive. Should be here by Friday.

theiceman

as a rule cam position sensors come out pretty easy. the Crank can be a bear though . i imagine because its at the bottom of the engine where salt water and other elements take their toll.

JTT

That sucks. Shame your so far away as I’d give you the one I have sitting on the bench but it would likely take as long to get it to you as your new one will take.

Thanks Iceman, I was hoping they would be less painful. I’m thinking of replacing mine to try to deal with this random misfire. Throwing parts at it I know, but it’s so random and rare it’s very hard to diagnose.

Has anyone had any experience with the aftermarket cam position sensors? If I’m going to throw parts, it would be nice to throw ones 1/2 price of OEM.

Imo000

Thanks for the offer an many here know that I love good used parts but when it comes to this sensor, I want to use a new one.